300 days of summer

Whilst last week Los Angelenos were wilting in the Indian Summer heat; we are now undergoing the threat of intense thunderstorms with hail storms imminent; it got me thinking about the summer I have seen whilst working in Santa Monica.

When my better half ("BH") and I were considering moving to Los Angeles from London, he promised me sunshine for at least 300 days a year.  Coming from London where you can't arrange an outdoor barbecue in August without a rain stop play plan this was always going to be attractive to me and this was one of the major reasons BH was over his time in London and couldn't wait to get back to SoCal.  Now you also have to understand that I am also the girl that bad weather follows.  I hiked Machu Picchu and managed to get into a freak snow storm; when I visited Australia for the first time in the midst of their nine year drought hurricane storms swept across the continent bringing the first rains in some regions for over nine years.  So believe me I didn't drink the cool-aid without some research and reassurance from my better half.

So this summer, each morning I would set off down Wilshire Boulevard with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky with my sunglasses on to get within 8 blocks of the beach before the marine layer would begin, the temperature would significantly drop  and I would shivver my way into my office in my sundress.  This heavy fog would settle in for the day surrounding the building I worked.  Now I understand the concept of June gloom but this year June gloom lasted until September.  I also understand that to add salt to the wound, the fog basically only sat in the area between the Palisades and LAX for about an eight block width from the beach.  So anyone outside of this stretch of coastline has had a wonderful summer.

I can therefore only apologise to all for the poor weather along the beach communities this year - you can blame me and my bad weather magnetism.